By KUNA,
London : Two of three men accused of helping the July 7, 2005, suicide bombers plan their attack made calls to the London Tourist Board and the Natural History Museum during a two-day reconnaissance mission in the British capital, a court here heard Monday.
Mobile phone records tracked the movements of Waheed Ali, Mohammed Shakil and Sadeer Saleem across London while they were alleged to have been visiting potential targets, Kingston Crown Court, in south London, was told.
The three defendants spent two days in London on December 16 and 17, 2004, with two of the bombers Hasib Hussain and Jermaine Lindsay, a trip, the jury was told, which “marked the inception of the plan to cause explosions in the UK”.
Ali, 24, Saleem, 27, and Shakil, 31, all deny one charge of conspiring with Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shezhad Tanweer, Lindsay and Hussain and others unknown to cause explosions between November 17, 2004, and July 8, 2005.
The four suicide bombers murdered 52 people when they set off bombs on the British capital’s transport network in 2005.
Lawyer Neil Flewitt, outlining the prosecution case, said a large part of the evidence against the defendants comes from a detailed “cell site” analysis of the telephone traffic between them and the two bombers.
He had previously told the court that during the trip, Saleem and Shakil visited the Natural History Museum, the London Eye ferris wheel and the London Aquarium.
“Their movements and actions over that important two-day period must be considered against the background of what, we suggest, was a commitment to strike at those who they considered to be the enemies of Islam wherever they might be”, the prosecuting lawyer added.
The trial continues.